China Unveils Five-Year Plan to Upgrade Rural Supply Network
China has released a comprehensive five-year development plan for its supply and marketing cooperative system, outlining ambitious targets to modernize agricultural materials distribution and strengthen rural commerce through 2030. The plan, announced by the All-China Federation of Supply and Marketing Cooperatives, deploys 18 key tasks centered on food security and comprehensive rural revitalization, according to Xinhua News.
Context: A System Rooted in Rural China
The supply and marketing cooperative system has served as the backbone of agricultural materials distribution in China since its formal establishment in 1954. The network operates as the main channel for circulating fertilizers, pesticides, and other farming inputs to rural areas, while also connecting farmers to broader markets for their produce.
During the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025), the system supplied approximately 70 percent of national chemical fertilizer demand and undertook about half of the country’s fertilizer commercial reserve tasks. Annual agricultural product sales exceeded 3 trillion yuan, and the system’s total sales grew at an average annual rate of 8.6 percent, as reported at the 8th National Congress of the All-China Federation of Supply and Marketing Cooperatives held in November 2025.
Key Targets: Building a National Agricultural Materials Network
Under the new plan, the system will construct or renovate approximately 100 national strategic agricultural materials reserve warehouses and roughly 1,000 county-level agricultural materials distribution centers by 2030. These facilities will be built along the “six horizontal, seven vertical, two coastal” national agricultural materials circulation corridor—a strategic logistics framework designed to ensure efficient distribution nationwide.
For 2026, the first year of the 15th Five-Year Plan period, the system aims to build or renovate about 20 national strategic reserve warehouses and over 200 county-level distribution centers, as detailed in the plan released by Xinhua.
Green Agricultural Materials Initiative
The plan introduces a “Green Agricultural Materials” upgrade initiative promoting water-soluble fertilizers, slow and controlled-release fertilizers, and biological pesticides. The goal is to improve fertilizer and pesticide utilization rates while reducing environmental impact—a key priority as China seeks to balance agricultural productivity with sustainability goals.
Expanding Agricultural Services
Beyond materials distribution, the plan significantly expands the system’s agricultural service capabilities. Five-year targets include building or renovating 1,000 standardized agricultural service centers, with the system’s total socialized service scale for cultivation, crop protection, and harvesting exceeding 300 million mu-times (approximately 20 million hectares-times).
This year alone, the system will build or renovate 200 agricultural service centers and accelerate the development of emergency services such as grain drying and storage to address post-harvest losses, according to China News Service.
The plan also promotes an integrated “agricultural materials + agricultural technology + agricultural services” model, designed to address practical challenges faced by individual farming households, including the high cost of machinery purchases and operational difficulties.
Strengthening Rural Commerce and Market Access
The plan emphasizes the cooperative system’s traditional strength in rural commerce. Key initiatives include:
- Hosting more than 10,000 supply and marketing fairs annually for production-sales matching
- Continuing to strengthen the “832 Platform,” an online marketplace for agricultural products from poverty-alleviated areas that has achieved cumulative transaction volume of 57.2 billion yuan
- Promoting an “origin cold chain service center + field pre-cooling preservation facility” linkage model to improve cold chain logistics
- Adding approximately 700,000 tonnes of grain storage capacity in 2026
Analysis: Strategic Implications
The plan reflects China’s broader strategic emphasis on food security and rural revitalization, core pillars of the national development agenda. By modernizing the agricultural materials distribution network and expanding service capabilities, Beijing aims to strengthen the resilience of its grain production system against supply chain disruptions and price volatility.
The emphasis on green agricultural inputs signals a shift toward more sustainable farming practices, aligning with China’s carbon neutrality commitments. Meanwhile, the expansion of rural commerce infrastructure supports the government’s goal of narrowing the urban-rural divide and boosting rural consumption.
What’s Next
Implementation will be closely watched as the system works toward its 2026 milestones. Key indicators to monitor include the pace of warehouse and distribution center construction, the rollout of green agricultural materials, and the expansion of socialized agricultural services. The plan’s success will depend on effective coordination between the federation, local governments, and the thousands of grassroots cooperative enterprises that form the system’s operational foundation.
As the State Council website noted in republishing the announcement, the plan represents a significant step toward building a more efficient and sustainable rural supply network that can support China’s agricultural modernization goals through 2030.